Black and White
by DBSean
Summary: "Don't you see?" Catra said, her voice little more than a harsh whisper. "It's black and white, Adora. Either you kill me…or I kill you. That's it. There's no other way." In the midst of war, Adora tries to teach Catra that not everything in life is as black and white as it seems. Catradora all the way.


" **Black and White"**

 **A/N: First fic for this show, and for this couple. I hope I do them justice!**

The sky was black with smoke, and the winds carried the unmistakable scent of blood and fire.

The battle had been long and hard, lasting most of the morning, beginning with the Horde's initial assault on the Whispering Woods just before the break of dawn. One moment, the woods were enchantingly peaceful, almost disconcertingly quiet; the next, the very air itself seemed alive with noise as hundreds of soldiers and war machines and secret weapons rolled into the forest. Trees broke and fell beneath the treads of the Horde's mighty tanks, and any too large to be run down were simply blasted out of the way.

The Rebellion had responded as quickly as possible, of course, and had halted the Horde's onslaught, but only after an entire section of the Whispering Woods had already been crushed or burnt to the ground. What the Rebellion lacked in soldiers and resources, it more than made up for with the raw power of the Princess Alliance. The Horde may have had bombs and poisons at their disposal, but the Princesses of Etheria were supported by the very elements of the planet itself: tidal waves, walls of ice, and entire groves of vegetation were at their beck and call.

By the time the sun was reaching its peak in the darkened sky above, it had become apparent to all involved that the Horde had vastly underestimated the Rebellion's defensive capabilities. This was not helped by the fact that the leader of the assault, Lieutenant Catra, had disappeared only seconds after the Rebellion first arrived with the enigmatic She-Ra in the lead, her brilliant aura a beacon to all who opposed the Horde.

It wasn't long before Catra had left her post to meet She-Ra halfway, as she often did, and soon the two were locked in an epic standoff that had played out between them again and again. Sometimes She-Ra won, sometimes Catra won, but always there was another battle, as inevitable as the rising and setting of the sun. One would strike, and the other would dodge, only to launch a counterattack, to be parried by the first. On and on it went, a dance of blades and claws, until everything but the two of them seemed to fade away into insignificance, and the longer the fight went on, the farther away from the conflict the two opponents found themselves, until the sounds of battle were but distant distractions.

"Better be careful, Adora," Catra commented with a mocking smile as she lunged at her opponent, claws bared and eager to taste blood. "You're starting to look tired!"

"The only thing I'm tired of is _you_!" responded Adora, blocking Catra's attack with the Sword of Protection before parrying with another swipe of the sword.

"Wow, great comeback, princess," Catra laughed derisively as she leaped out of the way, causing Adora's blade to slice through nothing but thin air. "Keep it up and you might actually hurt my feelings one of these days."

The two opponents found themselves almost half a mile away from the main conflict as they struggled for supremacy, having stumbled upon some previously undiscovered First One's ruins that served as their personal battleground. The crumbling stone structures and fallen masonry made for good cover, and there was more than enough open area for the two to focus on their duel without further distractions.

Unfortunately for Adora, however, Catra was right: she was tired. She was _exhausted_. Both of them were. Each had landed some good hits on the other, and it was abundantly clear their fight was drawing to a close. Catra's uniform was torn in a dozen places and some of her fur was visibly matted with blood drawn by She-Ra's blade. As for Adora, it was taking all of her energy just to maintain her state as She-Ra; her aura, previously visible from anywhere in the Whispering Woods, was now little more than a glimmer, and she knew the next good hit would be all it took to revert her back to her usual form.

"Stop playing around, Catra!" Adora yelled as she swung her blade around and fired from it a blast of magical energy. "People's lives are at stake! All of Etheria is at stake!"

"Don't be so dramatic," Catra replied, once again expertly dodging Adora's attack before it could strike her. Having missed its target, the blast of magic thus struck the stone pillar Catra had been standing in front of, causing it to explode into a hundred pieces of masonry.

"I'm not being dramatic!" responded Adora, holding her blade close and preparing for yet another attack. "People are dying, Catra! This isn't a game!"

Catra only laughed. "Of course it is, Adora. It's the oldest game there is. It's _war_!"

With that, she lunged at her foe, claws unsheathed, and fangs bared. Adora leapt out of the way just in time, fast enough to miss Catra's claws, but not fast enough to see the villainous feline rebound off the nearby stone wall. A second later, Catra was once again upon her, and this time Adora wasn't fast enough to dodge.

"Aaagh!" she cried out as Catra's claws dug into her back, drawing fresh blood for the dozenth time that day. Catra laughed mockingly before leaping off Adora's back and landing several feet across from her, just in time to see the mighty She-Ra fall to her knees.

"It's always been a game, Adora," Catra said with a smile, licking her opponent's blood off her claws. "Horde and Rebellion. Me and you. One against the other. It's black and white. I chose my side, Adora. And you chose yours!"

She leapt again, this time high into the air, hoping to strike Adora from above and finally end the conflict. But Adora saw her coming and, with a flash of light, the Sword of Protection transformed into a golden shield. Catra dove at her target, but her claws struck only the polished steel of Adora's magical weapon.

"Is that why you do this?" Adora asked as she threw Catra from her shield, sending the feline tumbling backwards and off-balance. "Is that why you hate me so much? Why you want to beat me so badly? You just want to win your little game? Is that it?"

"I already told you why!" Catra hissed, grabbing a nearby chunk of masonry and throwing it at Adora with all her strength, only for the warrior to block it with her shield. "I hate you because you abandoned the Horde! You abandoned _me_! You tossed me aside like I was nothing!"

"You were _everything_ to me," Adora asserted angrily, withdrawing her shield and transforming it back into the legendary Sword of Protection. "I never left _you_ , Catra. I left the _Horde_."

"It's the same thing!" Catra growled as she threw herself at Adora once again, the two quickly catching each other in yet another spectacle of combat. "I already told you, Adora! It's black and white! I chose my side…and you chose yours! That's all there is to it!"

What followed was a barrage of attacks and counterattacks that represented the very last vestiges of strength either Adora or Catra had left. Catra slashed at Adora, who blocked the claws with her shield. Adora struck back with her sword, which Catra expertly dodged. Catra leaped at Adora, Adora fired another blast of magical energy from her blade. Attack, counterattack, block, parry, attack again.

Finally, Catra summoned the last of her strength and leapt at Adora with her claws bared, the roar of a jungle cat erupting from her mouth as he did so. Adora saw her opening and took it; thrusting the Sword of Protecting towards her opponent with all her might, Adora unleashed a blast of colorful energy. Catra saw the attack coming, but was too far gone to leap out of the way, and so could do nothing but cry out in pain as the blast of light struck her head-on and sent her flying backwards into yet another stone pillar.

"Ughhh," Catra groaned as she fell to the ground before the pillar, her entire form billowing with steam, and one hand grabbing her stomach, where the blast struck. She looked up at Adora with fury in her eyes. "You'll pay for that, princess."

But Adora, instead of pushing her advantage or preparing for a counterattack, only looked right back at her sadly.

"No," she said softly, "I won't."

Catra was about to question Adora's statement when she heard the sound of cracking and crumbling behind her. Turning, she looked back to see the large stone pillar she had been thrown into begin to break apart into a dozen pieces. Catra only had time to widen her eyes in apprehension before the entire pillar came tumbling down around her.

"Ah, crud."

 _KROOOM!_

Adora couldn't even bear to watch as the pillar fell upon Catra, instead electing to look away until the clamor came to an end. When she finally turned back, she found Catra half-conscious and half-buried beneath a dozen chunks of stone masonry. It was only with the last of her strength that Catra managed to extricate herself from beneath the rubble and, by the time she was free, it was abundantly clear she was in no condition to fight.

The fight was over. Adora had won.

"I'm sorry," Adora admitted, closing her eyes as she felt the power of She-Ra finally leave her, reverting her back to her usual form. She approached Catra, being sure to stay just out of her range (just in case), but close enough that she could see her opponent's wounds. "I wish it didn't have to be like this, Catra, but you never give me an option. All we ever do is fight. And I hate it. But I'll do what I have to do to protect Etheria."

With that, Adora took her sword and prepared to leave the ruins behind. The conflict in the Whispering Woods was coming to an end, and she intended to be there for its conclusion. She was just about to summon Swift Wind when she finally heard Catra speak softly behind her.

"Then finish it."

Adora frowned, turning around in time to see Catra slowly pushing herself up onto all fours. Blood dripped from the feline's lips as she spoke, her voice cracking and her eyes still full of rage despite her exhaustion.

"What did you say?" Adora asked, convinced she had misheard her.

"I said _finish it_ ," Catra repeated, louder this time, looking back up at Adora and scowling as best she could between breaths. "If protecting Etheria is so important to you…then finish it. Once and for all! _Kill me_!"

Adora blinked, genuinely taken aback. When next she spoke, it was in complete disbelief and with more than a little regret. "What? I'm…I'm not going to kill you, Catra. I won't. I can't!"

"You _have_ to!" Catra shouted back, her voice raw and full of anger.

Though the last of her strength was gone, Catra's rage kept her going far past her physical limits, as it seemingly always did. Adora listened to her with growing apprehension, not for her own safety, but for the emotional wellbeing of the one person who, until only recently, had been her best and only friend.

"You have to kill me, or else I'll keep coming back," Catra spat at her, the last of her bravado gone, replaced solely by the fury that fueled her. "I'll _always_ come back, Adora. You know that. I won't stop. I'll _never_ stop! Even if you kill Hordak, even if you bring down the entire Horde…I'll always come back! So long as I'm alive, I will _never_ stop trying to destroy you, even if I have to take all of Etheria with me!"

Catra paused for a moment, not for dramatic effect, but because she was out of breath. It was getting harder to breathe with each passing second, and she had to lick her cracked lips to keep them moist enough to talk. Across from her, Adora watched on without saying anything but, even in her weakened state, Catra could see the girl's eyes widening in fear.

"Don't you see?" Catra went on, her voice little more than a harsh whisper now, so low it sounded more like a cry for help. There were tears gleaming at the edges of her eyes now, too, as the impact of her own words finally begin to sink in. "It's black and white, Adora. Either you kill me…or I kill you. That's it. There's no other way."

Adora felt tears burning at the edges of her eyes as she heard Catra's hate-filled words and sensed their truth. Catra was right; she would always come back. She always did. And so long as she lived, so long as the Horde endured, there would be more death. More destruction.

It would never stop. And neither would they.

Adora looked down at her reflection in the Sword of Protection, saw her eyes filling with tears and marveled at the gleaming sharpness of the blade itself. It would only take a single swing – just one – to end this conflict once and for all. Ridding the Horde of its Lieutenant would cripple it, perhaps even persuade Hordak to write Etheria off as a loss. The war could be over. No one else needed to die.

No one…expect for Catra.

 _There's no other way_.

With tears in her eyes and a wound in her heart, Adora lifted the Sword of Protection and held it just above her opponent's fallen form. Catra, still struggling to breathe, lowered her head and closed her eyes, ready for the end. She waited for the blade to fall…and fall it did.

 _SHUNK!_

Catra opened her eyes with a start, surprised to find she could open her eyes at all, to find She-Ra's blade lodged harmlessly into the ground only a foot away from her. Adora stood before her, holding back tears as she looked down at Catra with an unmistakable expression of determination on her face. For a moment, Catra was convinced it wasn't even Adora looking down upon her, but the legendary She-Ra once again.

"No," Adora said, her voice steady and determined. "I won't do it."

"What?" Catra asked, licking her lips so she could speak. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm not going to kill you, Catra," Adora explained, reaching over to grab the Sword of Protection by its hilt so she could pull it out of the ground. "I'm not going to kill you. Not now…and not _ever_."

For a moment, Catra was silent. Then:

"But…why not?"

"You know why," Adora replied softly, turning away so Catra wouldn't see the tears in her eyes or the quivering of her lip.

"No, I don't!" Catra insisted angrily, no longer holding back her own tears and instead allowing them to fall freely. "I don't understand!"

"Because you're my friend!" Adora shouted back, still without turning around.

"No! It's more than that!" Catra yelled at her, her voice half-obscured by her own tears. "Tell me! Tell me why you won't kill me!"

"No," Adora said.

"Tell me, Adora!" Catra demanded again.

"No," Adora said again, louder this time.

"Tell me!"

"No!"

"TELL ME!"

"Because I love you!" Adora screamed, finally giving in and turning back around to face Catra. The tears were falling now, and she knew there was nothing she or anyone else could do to get them to stop, not now that she had exposed her deepest and darkest secret to the only person alive who could ever truly destroy her.

Adora turned around again just as she felt the floodgates opened, and this time didn't even try to stop herself from unleashing a sob so painful that it pierced even Catra's heart. Still holding the Sword of Protection in one hand, Adora covered her face with the other in a desperate (and futile) attempt to wipe away the tears that just kept coming.

For a time, there was silence in the ruins, silence aside from Catra's labored breathing and Adora's gentle sobs. Even the sounds of battle in the distance seemed mild in comparison to the deafening silence that fell over the two warriors. Adora's words hung in the air between them like electric current, connecting them and shocking them at the same time.

When Catra next spoke, it was so softly that Adora could barely hear her. "You…love me?"

Adora neither nodded nor shook her head, but the fact that she still refused to face Catra was all the evidence Catra needed.

"Since when?" she asked.

"Always," Adora finally answered, her voice cracking as she spoke. "I've always loved you, Catra. You were the only one I ever truly cared about. You were more than my comrade, more than my friend. I would have lived the rest of my life with you. You meant everything to me. You still do."

A thousand fiery thoughts ran through Catra's head. _Is it true? Does Adora really love me? Is this a trick? Is this real? What did this mean?_

Most damning of them all, however, was this: _How could anyone – let alone_ _ **Adora**_ _– possibly love_ _ **me**_ _?_

"You're lying," Catra exclaimed, her heart breaking with the realization. "You don't love me. No one loves me. You're lying!"

"I'm not," Adora assured her, her voice so soft that it was barely audible.

"Then you aren't making any sense!" Catra screamed angrily, once again fueled by little more than fury and spite. "You betrayed the Horde! You betrayed _me_! You were all I had, Adora, and you left me for the Rebellion! How can you do that and still say you love me? It doesn't make sense!"

"No," Adora admitted after a moment of thought, "I guess it doesn't. But not everything in life makes sense. Not everything _needs_ to."

With that, Adora finally mustered the courage to turn around and face Catra, revealing her bloodshot eyes and her puffy red cheeks. Tears still fell at a rapid pace, but she ignored them, instead focusing entirely on the task at hand. Lodging the Sword of Protection into the ground beside her once again, Adora walked over to Catra, who instinctively bristled and tried to back away, wary of an attack, as always.

But Adora didn't hurt her. Instead, coming to a stop right in front of her, Adora held her hand out to Catra, as though offering her aid. Catra paused for a moment, fearing a trick, before realizing _she_ was the one who usually did such things; Adora was nothing if not honest in her intentions. Finally, with a great deal of effort, both physical and emotional, Catra took Adora's hand and allowed her to help her up.

It took a few attempts, as both of them were exhausted from battle and still suffering from the wounds inflicted upon them by the other, but eventually Adora pulled Catra to her feet. Only Adora didn't let go of Catra's hand, for some reason; indeed, she seemed only to tighten her grip.

Slowly, cautiously, without letting go of Catra's hand, Adora lifted her other hand up and gently placed it upon Catra's cheek, causing Catra's ears to instinctively perk up at the familiar tough. Catra, for her part, could only blink in confusion as she felt Adora's hand rest against her cheek. Her heart, which had previously been slowing with the end of the battle, was suddenly pounding in her chest, yet she sensed no threat from Adora. So why, then, was her heart beating so _powerfully_ , so _painfully_ hard…?

She looked into Adora's eyes for answers, and saw there something she had seen a thousand times before during Adora's time with the Horde: it was resolve, the same expression she always had when she was in the middle of combat training or defending Catra from Shadow Weaver's degradations. It was a look Catra knew well, and one she had missed dearly since Adora's defection, far more than she was willing to admit.

Neither Catra nor Adora knew for how long they stood there, looking into each other's eyes, but Catra knew it had to have been at least a few moments before she finally found her voice.

"Adora?" she finally asked, far softer than she intended. "What are you doing?"

Gone was the anger and spite and unrelenting hatred; for a moment, she almost sounded like she was talking to her best friend once again, and not her mortal enemy, never mind the fact that they were one and the same.

"I'm showing you I'm not lying," Adora responded, just as softly.

A moment later, Adora's lips were pressed against Catra's, and she was kissing her with everything she had in her. Catra was understandably surprised at first, her eyes growing as wide as dinner plates upon feeling Adora's lips upon her own, but it wasn't long before she found herself responding to Adora's kiss with one of her own. Their eyes closed, their bodies grew closer together, and Adora swore she could even feel Catra's tail wrap around her waist.

For Adora and Catra, the kiss simultaneously lasted for an eternity while also ending far too quickly. It felt as though time stopped the moment their lips touched, leaving only the two of them alive in the world, as though locked together forever in one final embrace…and then, just as soon as it began, it was over.

Catra felt as though she was coming out of a trance as she felt Adora let go of her and pull away, her blue and yellow eyes fluttering open just in time to watch Adora draw her sword from the ground in preparation to leave. The smoke in the sky above was beginning to disperse, and the sounds of battle in the distance were slowly being overcome by the shouts and cheers of the Rebellion. They would have to return to their respective sides, Adora as She-Ra to declare victory for the Rebellion, and Catra to command the last of her Horde forces into a hasty retreat.

Catra knew all of this, yet found herself completely unable to move. Her heart was pounding, her lungs were without air, and she felt like she might faint at any moment. It wasn't until Adora had already started walking away that Catra mustered up enough strength to speak out one last time.

"I…I still don't understand," she said weakly, knowing this would be the last time she would speak to Adora till next they crossed in battle. "Even after everything I've said to you, everything I've done, all the times I've hurt you…you _still_ love me?"

Adora stopped, and turned around to face Catra one last time. "I do."

"But… _how_?"

"It's like I told you before, Catra," Adora said with a sad smile. "Not everything in life is so black and white."

 **A/N: Hope you enjoyed the story! Let me know what you think!**


End file.
